Operations & Development Manager: Mike Strong

Opening hours: 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (can be flexible)

About the service

The Northamptonshire Floating Support Service delivers an intermediate service of a maximum of 6 months and is funded by Nene CCG.

The service is aimed at supporting adults aged 18+ with primary mental health needs who live in the area of Northampton South – including Northampton, South Northamptonshire and Daventry district.

The main aim of the service is to offer time-limited support to enable individuals who have mental health needs to meet identified outcomes. This service aims to improve health and wellbeing; enable greater independence, resilience and social inclusion; and help to divert from requiring secondary mental health services.

This service is designed to be used once by service users and then remain linked in with Universal Services and the service user’s support network, in order to help the service user stay well.

What support we provide

A service user-centred plan is devised to enable the service user to achieve their goals.

There are seven outcomes that we work towards:

People achieving independence in 2, 4 or 6 months

People linked in with and using Universal Services and community opportunities

People diverted from crisis and high cost mental health services

People securing and/or maintaining settled accommodation

People securing voluntary or paid employment

Increasing income and tackling debt

Improving health and wellbeing

Overall, the service user will experience a high-impact, high-energy prevention service that will focus on positives, continuous improvement, enablement and social inclusion.

The service also offers two ‘tea and talk’ sessions each week in Northampton. These are social groups for service users, former service users and other members of the public to access, as an aid to social inclusion. These sessions are also attended by our volunteers, who support the running of these groups – more information available upon request.

Referral criteria

This service supports adults aged 18+ with primary mental health needs who live in the area of Northampton South – including Northampton, South Northamptonshire and Daventry district.

There are two referral pathways into the service:

STEPS Team: A referral can be made via Northamptonshire County Council’s customer service centre, by using their website here or telephoning 0300 126 1000. If deemed eligible, this is then allocated to the STEPS team, and a social worker will be appointed to complete an initial assessment. They can offer up to six weeks of support, refer into other suitable services, or refer to us for up to six months of support.

Health: Health professionals (secondary mental health services, primary care including care navigators, primary care liaison workers and GPs) can refer directly into the service by making an enquiry and completing a referral form. If eligible, the service user will devise a support plan with the allocated worker and can receive up to six months of support.

The support provided is regularly reviewed with the referrer, during the service user’s journey with us, and if eligible a referral to the long term team can be made.